ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
Vol 6 No 5 S1
September 2015
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Internal Efficiency of Public and Private Junior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State
Professor J. B. Ayodele
tolayodele@yahoo.co.uk
Adeleke Foluso Florence
ffayanadeleke@yahoo.com
Doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s1p154
Abstract
This study investigated the internal efficiency of private and public secondary schools in Ekiti State from 2005/2006 to
2007/2008 academic session. The objective of the study was to identify the relationship between internal efficiency of Junior
Secondary Schools in Ekiti State and variables like class size, school size, teachers’ qualification and student-teacher ratio
(STR). The ex-post factor research design was used for the study. The sample size consisted of 30 public and 20 private
schools in the state selected through purposive and proportional stratified random sampling techniques. The research
instrument used to collect data was a validated inventory titled “Data on School Records and Students”. True cohort method
was used to determine the wastage ratio and consequently the coefficient of efficiency of 30 public and 20 private secondary
schools in Ekiti State. T-test and Multiple Regression Statistic were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It
was discovered that private junior secondary schools have higher wastage rates than public secondary schools in Ekiti State.
Specifically, the findings showed a higher percentage of dropouts in private junior secondary schools during the period of study.
The coefficient of efficiency for public schools was therefore 90% while it was 73% in the private secondary schools in Ekiti
State. This shows that both public and private secondary schools in Ekiti State were fairly internally efficient. However, public
schools were more internally efficient than private schools. In the light of the findings, it was recommended that both private
and public schools in Ekiti State should improve in the areas that constituted to high wastage rates, especially in private
schools that had higher wastage ratio and work towards a perfect internal efficiency.
Keywords: Internal efficiency; Relationship; Student-Teacher Ratio; Cohort; Wastage Ratio; Coefficient of Efficiency.
1. Introduction
Education is an instrument which the Federal Government of Nigeria has decided to use to achieve national
development. The broad goal of secondary education as contained in the National Policy of Education shall be to prepare
the individual for useful living within the society and prepare him for higher education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).
The policy of JSS class as a terminal class provide is an excellent opportunity for Nigeria to confront some of her
educational challenges. At the level of Junior Secondary Education, students were to be exposed to technical and
vocational education such that on completion, those not academically inclined could pursue specialization in technical
colleges. This study of internal efficiency of junior secondary school is to investigate factors that threaten its effectiveness
in a cycle of three years.
Bisi, Kofoworola and Adegunle (2010) reported that the government had reviewed the 6-3-3-4 system and
concluded that it has failed to meet the aspiration of its promoters as well as inability to adequately respond to many
challenges facing education in Nigeria. Olubor (2004) opined that education as a dynamic system requires certain inputs
from time to time to carry out the curricular activities designed for the achievement of the system’s goals. The inputs
included teachers, both in quality and quantity, students, funds, materials and equipment. Adigun (1999) affirmed that the
benefits have been met. Unfortunately, not all students that enrolled for the Junior Secondary Education enjoyed the
benefit of completing their JSS3 education. Many complete at very high cost in terms of financial and time implications
when one weighs the time spent for this level of education by each student in terms of student-years.
Wastage in education manifests when resources given to education are not utilized to produce the output at the
stipulated time and education system of the school can be considered less efficient. Public schools are owned, managed
and financed by the government. The government spend large amount of money on education including overhead cost
and grants to secondary schools. Meanwhile, private schools are schools owned and managed by individual proprietors
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ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 6 No 5 S1
September 2015
or proprietresses for the purpose of making profits, though licensed by the government. Private schools are expected to
be more efficient because they have the privilege of screening pupils for admission and admit only the able pupils. More
so, private school students pay fees, their sponsors pay more attention to the education of their wards. They equally
organize extra lessons for their children/wards compared to students of public schools. Ayeni (2005) opined that private
institutions evolve for reasons of provision of services and the maximization of profit.
The internal efficiency of any school depends upon the way it is managed, planned and administered. According to
Ajayi and Ayodele (2001), planning is a process of deciding in advance what to do such that programmes are executed at
minimum risk of failure. The researcher observed that wastage may have been attributed to inadequacies in school
production variables. The variables include the learning environment, student-teacher ratio, teachers’ motivation, school
organizational climate, teachers’ quality and quantity. These are independent variables that the academic performance of
a student depends upon while in school. Common observation shows that public schools especially junior secondary
schools, lack adequate chairs/desks and classrooms. The school learning environment is disgusting and hostile resulting
into high cases of school dropouts. Another factor that could influence efficiency includes high enrolment and increased
class size. Undoubtedly, these factors have impairing tendencies on internal efficiency.
It remains a fact that adequacies in school production variables facilitate internal efficiency. However, the arising
question is: do these school production variables still affect internal efficiency of public and private secondary schools in
Ekiti State?
1.1
Statement of the Problem
The wastage problem resulting from class repetition and dropout calls for a study, with the view of ascertaining the
internal efficiency of public and private Junior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State. It seems that many students tend to go
through the school system without making the desired progress. Many students spend extra years in school, thereby
constituting wastage. The researcher observed that cases of repetition and dropout in public secondary schools in the
state seems to be more rampart than the case of private secondary schools and this might not have been unconnected
with certain school related factors such as class size, school size, teachers’ qualification and student-teacher ratio.
1.2
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the internal efficiency of public and private secondary schools in Ekiti State,
Nigeria. The study ascertained whether there is any relationship between the school related variables (such as class size,
school size teacher’s qualification and student-teacher ratio) and the internal efficiency. The study will also ascertain
which is more internally efficient between a public and a private junior secondary school system in Ekiti State.
1.3
Research Questions
The following research questions have been raised:
• What is the wastage rate in public and private junior secondary schools in Ekiti State?
• To what extent are public and private junior secondary schools internally efficient?
• Do school related factors such as class size, school size teacher’s qualification and student-teacher ratio make
significant contribution to internal efficiency?
1.4
Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses have been formulated in the study:
• There is no significant difference between the internal efficiency of private and public secondary schools in
Ekiti State
• School related factors such as class size, school size teacher’s qualification and student-teacher ratio (STR)
do not make any significant contribution to the internal efficiency of public and private junior secondary schools
in Ekiti State.
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MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 6 No 5 S1
September 2015
2. Research Method
The research design adopted for this study was descriptive adoption of the ex-post factor type. The study population
consists of one hundred and sixty seven (167) public junior secondary schools and one hundred and fourteen (114)
private junior secondary schools in Ekiti State. Thirty (30) public and twenty (20) private Junior Secondary school
teachers were respectively sampled using purposive and proportional stratified random sampling techniques. A validated
inventory titled “data on school records and students” was used to collect data for the study. The data collected were
analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency count and percentages). T-test and multiple regressions were used to test
the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
3. Results
3.1
Research Question 1:
What is the wastage rate in public and private junior secondary schools in Ekiti State?
Table 1: The wastage rate in public and private secondary schools
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
Session Repetition rates Dropout rates Wastage rates Repetition rates Dropout rates Wastage rates
2005/06
6.9
1.27
8.17
6.8
8.7
15.5
2006/07
3.73
2.45
5.94
5.94
11.33
17.27
2007/08
3.92
2.48
7.79
7.79
8.72
16.51
2008/09
4.99
14.96
19.95
9.52
19.05
28.57
NB: Figures are in percentage.
Table 1 shows the wastage rates in both public and private Junior Secondary schools in Ekiti State. In 2005/2006
acaddemic session, the wastage rates were 8.17% and 15.5% in public and private schools respectively. It was 6.18%
and 17.27% respectively in Public and Private Schools for the year 2006/2007. In 2007/2008 (the expected year of
graduation), the wastage rates were 6.32% and 16.51% in public and private junior secondary schools respectively.
Some students could not meet up at the end of the ideal three years cycle between 2005/2006 and 2007/2008 academic
sessions. The wastage rates in 2008/2009 were 19.95% and 28.57% in public and private junior secondary schools,
respectively.
3.2
Research Question 2:
To what extent are the public and private junior secondary schools internally efficient?
In order to determine the internal efficiency, the wastage ratio was computed. The reciprocal of the wastage ratio
was also computed to determine the coefficient of efficiency.
Wastage ratio was determined as follows:
Wastage Ratio = Actual Input – Output Ratio
Ideal Input – Output Ratio
Table 2: The internal efficiency of selected private and public secondary schools in Ekiti State.
Type of School Input (Student- years) Output (Completer) Actual (Input/output) Wastage Ratio Coefficient of Efficiency
Private
2288
558
4.10
1.37
73%
Public
13, 327
4008
3.33
1.11
90%
From the flow chart of the true cohort constructed, Table 2 revealed that one successive completer in private school used
4.10 student-years to complete while it took 3.33 student years to complete in public junior secondary school education in
Ekiti State during the period of study. This table further shows that the coefficient of efficiency of public and private junior
secondary schools were 90% and 73% respectively. This implies that public junior secondary schools were more
internally efficient than private junior secondary schools during the period of study.
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3.3
Vol 6 No 5 S1
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MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Testing of Hypotheses
Hypotheses 1: There is no significant difference between the internal efficiency of private and public secondary schools in
Ekiti State.
Table 3: T-test analysis difference in the internal efficiency between private and public secondary schools in Ekiti State.
School Type
Private
Public
N
20
30
Mean
42.42
97.62
SD
0.41
1.57
T-CAL
DF
T-TABLE
Remark
3.41
142
+1.96
Sign
Table 4 shows that t-value calculated (3.41) was greater than the critical table value (1.96) at 0.05 level of significance.
Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. There is therefore significant difference in internal efficiency between the
private and public junior secondary schools in Ekiti State.
Hypotheses 2: School related factors such as class size, school size, teachers’ qualification, and student-teacher
ratio do not make any significant contribution to the internal efficiency of Junior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State.
Table 4: Relative contribution of each selected school factors to the internal efficiency in private Junior Secondary
Schools in Ekiti State.
Selected School Variables
Class Size
School Size
Teachers’ Qualification
Student- Teacher Ratio
Code Contribution of each variable Standard Error
X1
0.001249
0.153
X2
0.001447
0.131
X3
0.0797
0.384
X4
0.09292
0.133
T-cal
0.166
0.817
0.415
1.212
Sig.t (p-value)
0.003
0.003
0.925
0.002
Remark
Sign
Sign
Not Sign
Sign
Table 4 shows p-value of 0.003, 0.003 and 0.002 for class size, school size and student-teacher ratio, respectively less
than t-calculated at 0.005 alpha level which means they are significant to internal efficiency. Only teachers’ qualification
shows a p-value of 0.925 that was greater than t-calculated. This implies that teachers’ qualification made no significant
contribution to the internal efficiency of private Junior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State.
Table 5: Relative contribution of each selected school factors to the internal efficiency in public Junior Secondary Schools
in Ekiti State.
Selected School Variables Code Contribution of each variable Standard Error
Class Size
X1
0.001647
0.131
School Size
X2
0.001447
0.131
Teachers’ Qualification
X3
-0.0797
-0.362
Student- Teacher Ratio
X4
0.09292
0.138
T-cal Sig.t (p-value) Remark
0.166
0.002
Sign
0.817
0.003
Sign
3.219
0.002
Sign
1.029
0.002
Sign
Table 5 shows the various contribution of the independent variable to the internal efficiency of public junior secondary
schools in Ekiti State at 0.05 alpha levels. The p-values 0.002, 0.003, 0.002, 0.002 for class size, school size, teachers’
qualification and student-teacher ratio, respectively were less than T-calculated. This shows that there was significant
contibution of the variables to the internal efficiency of public junior secondary schools.
4. Discussions
The findings from this study showed that private schools have higher wastage rates throughout the period of study. This
may be attributed to the fact that private schools do not encourage automatic promotion. However, findings showed a
high percentage of dropouts in private Junior Secondary Schools. This may be connected to the high tuition fees in
private schools which may be prompt some poor parents to withdraw their children from such schools. It was shown from
the study that each selected school-related factors had significant contribution to the internal efficiency except teachers’
qualification in private schools. This might be as a result of less qualified teachers employed in private secondary schools
used during the period of study. These would have affected the quality of teaching. Farent (1984) and Ukeje (1966). A
student completer in the public secondary schppl spent 3.33 student-year while it was 4.10 student-year in the private
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school. The wastage ratio calculated was 1.11 and 1.37 in public and private Junior Secondary Schools respectively.
According to Ayodele (2005), a wastage ratio of 1 (which is not achieved in reality) shows a perfect internal efficiency.
The nearer the wastage ratio to 1, the more efficient the system; in contrast, the farther the less. From observation,
wastage ratios of 1.11 and 1.37 which are above unit, shows a fairly internal efficiency for secondary schools in a
developing country. The coefficient of efficiency for public school was 90% and 73% for private school, which are above
average. By implication, both public and private Junior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State were fairly internally efficient
throughout the period under study i.e.2005/2006 to 2007/2008 academic sessions. Public schools were however more
internally efficient than private schools during the period of study due to lesser class repetition and lower dropout rates.
5. Conclusion and Recommendation
The selected school- related factors contributed significantly to the internal efficiency of public and private Junior
Secondary Schools in the state. The element of wastage rates which appeared in forms of repetition and dropout in the
two types of school were minimal. This shows that Ekiti State public and private Junior Secondary Schools were fairly
internally efficient during the period of study. However, public Junior Secondary School was more internally efficient than
the private counterpart in Ekiti State during the period of study.
Considering the implication of these findings for resource utilization, the following recommendations are considered
necessary. Private schools in Ekiti State should address issues causing wastages and adhere strictly to the requirement
of the National Policy on Education, most especially in the area of teachers’ qualification that requires N.C.E. as the
minimum qualification of a teacher in the secondary schools. There is need to employ more qualified teachers to increase
academic performance and reduce the rate of repetition and dropouts. In addition, parents should stop having negative
perception about the system of operation in public secondary schools in Ekiti State.
References
Adigun, J.T. (1999) Wastage Factors in Akure Local Government Area Secondary Schools, Ondo State; Journal of Institute of Education,
Ondo State University, Ado- Ekiti.
Ajayi, I.A. & Ayodele J.B. (2001) Introduction to Educational Planning Administration and Supervision; YPPS Publishers, Lagos.
Ayeni, A.O. (2005) Education as an Investment; Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education; Faculty of Education, University of AdoEkiti, Nigeria.
Ayodele, J.B. (2005) Fundamentals of Systems Analysis in Education; Bolabay Publishers, Lagos.
Bisi O., Kofoworola B.O. & Adegunle O. (2010, October 28) Stakeholders fault ‘hurried’ plans to dump 6-3-3-4 system; The Nations
Newspaper, Page 21
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) National Policy of Education.
Olubo, R.O. (2004) A Comparative Analysis of the Internal Efficiency of Public Junior Secondary Education of Two Selected States in
Nigeria; Journal of Educational Foundations and Management, University of Ado- Ekiti, Nigeria.
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